KATHY BATES and DAVID E. KELLEY Interview
Kathy stars as “Harry Korn” and David is the Creator & Executive Producer
Watch HARRY’S LAW Premiering Monday Night, January 17 at 10 PM EST on NBC
January 12, 2011
By Lena Lamoray
HARRY’S LAW NBC PRESS RELEASE: Emmy Award–winning writer/producer David E. Kelley (“Boston Legal,” “The Practice,” “Ally McBeal”) weaves his rich storytelling into a new legal dramedy starring Academy Award winner Kathy Bates in the title role -- about how people can embrace the unexpected and other curveballs that life can throw at them. Harriet “Harry” Korn (Kathy Bates, “Misery,” “About Schmidt”) doesn’t believe things happen for a reason, but she discovers that they sometimes do. A curmudgeonly ex-patent lawyer, Harry is abruptly fired from her blue-chip law firm, forcing her to search for a fresh start. She finds it when her world unexpectedly collides, literally, with Malcolm Davies (Aml Ameen, “Kidulthood”), a kind-hearted college student who desperately needs Harry’s help with his pending court case and he subsequently goes to work for her. Harry soon finds her balance as well as new offices in an abandoned shoe store just as legal hotshot Adam Branch (Nate Corddry, “The United States of Tara,” “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip”) accidentally hits her while driving. Inspired by Harry’s no-nonsense understanding of the law, Adam decides to take leave of his shiny corporate firm to work with her. Harry, Adam and Malcolm, unlikely but kindred spirits -- along with the help of Harry’s shoe-savant assistant, Jenna (Brittany Snow, “Hairspray,” “American Dreams”), are now ready for whatever walks in through the doors of their unique establishment “Harriet’s Law and Fine Shoes.” “Harry’s Law” is produced by Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with David E. Kelley Productions and Warner Bros. Television. David E. Kelley (“Boston Legal,” “The Practice”) and Bill D’Elia (“Boston Legal,” “The Practice”) serve as executive producers. D’Elia also serves as director.
I spoke with KATHY BATES and DAVID E. KELLEY about HARRY’S LAW which premiers on NBC on January 17th at 10 PM EST. It was an honor to speak with both of them and I am happy that Kathy will be back on my television screen on a weekly basis. I really enjoyed her as Betina in “Six Feet Under”. I know everyone has a bunch of favorite Kathy Bates character, so which one is yours? The cast of HARRY’S LAW is remarkable and David E. Kelley never lets us down with his unmistakable writing style, character development and witty storylines. Don’t miss the premiere of HARRY’S LAW on NBC.
Lena Lamoray: What do you think the viewers are going to enjoy the most about Harry's Law and about Harry?
David Kelley: They're going to enjoy Harry. I mean that's it. I mean if they don't enjoy Harry then we’re a little bit out to sea. But I think they will. I mean it's a fantastic performance by Kathy and, you know, there's no question who’s series this is. We hand the keys to the car over to her and off she goes. And it's a wonderful character, you know, played brilliantly by Kathy. And I think that's what people will respond to.
Kathy Bates: Thank you David, I hope so too. I hope they'll find - I find - I hope they'll find themselves in Harry. I think there are a lot of Harry's out there these days.
Lena Lamoray: Kathy you've played so many different characters so can you talk about a couple that you get recognized for the most and how do they compare to Harry?
Kathy Bates: Well I - I'll never be able to duck the sledgehammer jokes. And that's the main one out there. And who - I think that's the one I get most often. And so I don't think she really compares to Harry at all. And that's what I love about Harry is that she's, even though even though she is as David says a card carrying curmudgeon, she's kind of the most normal character I've ever played. She hasn't got any particular afflictions or anything. She's not psychotic. So it's wonderful for me to have a person like that to play a kind of unglamorous rumpled befuddled curmudgeon. I just love playing her.
Lena Lamoray: I loved your character in Six Feet Under.
Kathy Bates: Oh yes Betina, yes.
Lena Lamoray: She's one of my favorites.
Kathy Bates: Yes I enjoyed playing that too, especially working with Frances Conroy.
Lena Lamoray: David how would you describe your writing process?
David Kelley: Well it starts with - I mean in terms of a series it starts with the characters. And then you look for a franchise to really mine and explore those characters. It's - I don't know that I could really quantify the process. It's kind of sit down with the legal pad the blank page and sort of - and have a go at it very, very sort of unscientific craft I would think. I don't tend to - unlike some, I don't tend to work with outlines on some series. Some of them, the - a linear show like The Practice for example, you kind of start with the beats an arc the stories. And but then there are other shows that are much more character driven, I would say Ally McBeal and maybe this one as well where you're really mining people and themes. And you start with is almost like instead of a linear beat sheet you've got a big circle and you’re mining these people. And then once you sort of identify what your themes and stories are then you sort of go back and re-craft it into coherent storytelling. It's very, very inexact. And, you know, we throw a lot of stuff up against walls that sticks and doesn't stick like I think every writer's room.
Lena Lamoray: Well you do a fantastic job.
David Kelley: Thank you.
Kathy Bates: Thank you.
More Conference Call Interview Highlights:
Q: Kathy, can you talk about coming to TV and how the role of Harry challenges you after playing such great characters on film?
Kathy Bates: Yes I can. The role that really attracted me I got my - got the script from my manager sometime last spring and was immediately attracted to this wonderful character who’s rumpled and disillusioned and confused about her life and dissatisfied with things. And I understand the role was originally written for a man. And I - at one point they changed the name to Harriet. And I said no, no, no, you can’t change it to Harriet. It has to be Harry. It still has to be that. I wanted it to be still this woman who’s very forceful and eccentric and loveable at the same time. She has a hard time showing her love to people. And she doesn’t quite understand people who are bright and sunny as Jenna is and Malcolm. But she loves being with them and begins to love her new digs in the shoe store when we get going.
Q: David, can you talk about the writing of the show and how you worked it to play to Kathy’s strengths as an actress?
David Kelley: Yes. IT was - well first as Kathy said, we had written it for a man and saw a lot of good actors but no one that truly embodied the role to our satisfaction. So we said okay well let’s think about a woman then. And as soon as we opened the field up to women, Kathy’s name came up first and fast. And everybody unanimously was on board with that. The trick was getting Kathy. And we were lucky enough that she said - to get her to read the script and she signed on board. The adjustment of the character really was surprisingly very little. I mean the characters originally conceived was this card carrying curmudgeon brilliant lawyer but one who had become disillusioned with the law. And that truthfully could have been a woman just as easily as a man. So the adjustments were very, very small. The joy of having Kathy in the role as you - in any pilot obviously you want to cultivate an investment in your lead character. You want the audience to care about this person and welcome he or she into the living room week after week. And the joy with Kathy is we didn’t have to give her lines or scenes that sort of revealed her tender side or moments that were - would say to the audience see, I’m really a likable person after all. She oozes that naturally. So we could make her as tough and disgruntled as we wanted to and she would take care of the rest. We knew the - we felt confident that the audience would find an affection for her. And that’s always a luxury for a writer not to have to take those little timeouts from a story in order to demonstrate that your character’s redeeming after all. She just sort of exudes that.
Q: Do you think that this show and this character and her particular style could really connect with viewers, can be timely and relevant in a populist way because there’s a general feeling in this country that our legal system is ineffective and even broken in many ways?
David Kelley: Well I think that Harry would share that feeling. And in fact, you know, in future episodes she confronts that very issue. She faces disbarment for taking on the legal system. In terms of the audience connecting with it, you never know. I mean you just never know. You cross your fingers at the end of the day and you hope. I do feel that the one thing that maybe is very timely is you’ve got - the show at its core is about a 60-year-old woman starting life over, getting fired from her job and having to start life over. And that - in a very, very difficult economy where there are a lot of people young and old struggling to make a living and a life. This isn’t a show about a righteous lawyer who leaves the big firm to go fight for the little guy. It’s a show about a woman who’s been basically bounced out of her office and she has to find a way now to make a living. As I said, she’s a bit of a card carrying curmudgeon. She has no more affection for the little guy than she does the big ones. But she has to make a living, opens up a store and as luck good or bad would have it, the only people walking through that - those - her door are people very down on their luck. So I hope that the audience can connect with that struggle and the idea of this woman having to begin her life anew at the age of 60.
Q: Have you found that there’s any substantial truth to that story that lawyers really do study their TV counterparts?
David Kelley: I haven’t t. I’ve heard it - I’ve heard from many of my lawyer friends and it’s been sort of expressed to me with a degree of wrath that when they get up to give openings or closings the jury sometimes expects them to be short and dramatic. And in complex cases like product liability cases it can take several hours just to weed through the facts and it’s very methodical and I guess boring. And the audience, juries punish them for it. But I would - I don’t think I would hire a lawyer who is taking his or her cues from television shows as to...how to practice.
Q: Kathy, did you do the opposite? Did you study real-life jury trial lawyers in action in the name of research?
Kathy Bates: Oh absolutely. I’m addicted to shows like 48 Hours, Mystery and Dateline, you know, for ID and all of those shows. And I love watching the lawyers there because I keep thinking well they have a lectern. You know, why don’t we have a lectern on our show? I’d like to have that and seeing how they - how emotional they are with the jury and how they - it’s interesting to watch and especially in some murder cases. So that’s been my little bit of backyard research.
Q: Kathy, what is it about David Kelley’s writing that you like? And were you a fan of his previous shows?
Kathy Bates: I - well I’ll have to - I have to back up here. Yes I Was a bit of a fan at the beginning. I watched some of the practice and Boston Legal although I’m not an inveterate, you know, TV watcher per se. So I have to say I didn’t see all of the shows. And but what I like about David’s writing is that it’s what I call contra puddle. It’s in the middle of a gang scene, you know, where the tension is running high and Harry’s trying to get them to calm down and they all want to kill each other there’s a moment -- I don’t know if it’s in or not. I hear it keeps coming in and going out. But there’s a moment where one of the guys they’ve been given name tags by the little girl in the office so they can keep everybody straight. And that in and of itself just tells me so much about David’s eccentricity and his quirk there that this little girl wants to give all the gang bangers name tags. But in the middle of the fight one of the gangers looks over and sees his friend actually wearing one of the name tags and glares at him and gets him to take it off. And to me that was really quintessential David, you know, that this kind of ironic look at life and people. You know, his - what I think is - draws - drew me to doing the show was the character of Harry. And since then there have been so many amazing characters who’ve walked in that door of the shoe store. We never know as David said to me once, you never know who you’re going to get, who’s going to walk in the door. And it’s true. And the way he crafts his characters I find so interesting and so full of life and reality.
Q: David, the shoe store setting, can you talk about that, how you decided on that and what it does for the show?
David Kelley: Well first of all it was - I wanted an old - I wanted a store that was - the law firm is in an area that’s struggling with (genderfication). It’s in a bad section of town. It’s struggling. There are some merchants that have moved in and tried to make a go of it. Harry will be one. The shoe store was the last one on this particular venue. I wanted a store front law firm. So as Kathy just mentioned, you just never know who’s going to walk through that door. And her business is primarily walkup. As for the shoe store, it really could have been anything. The shoe store is probably metaphorical a little bit. There - well two things I was looking for. I wanted to juxtapose the grittiness of the street, this world and this practice with splashy color and - it just should have been a total contradiction that the people who walking through this door, most of them falling on very hard times are surrounded by all this color and these material symbols of wealth. I think that the shoe in America represents almost the classic sort of symbol of arbitrary spending. The series, you know, beyond the character and Harry starting over, I think that the series is very much about class warfare. It’s about the increasing disparity of wealth within this country. I mean even now as the economy is coming back, where you see the recovery most is at the high end. The stock market is back. The people - the haves have sort of re-gotten their haves. But the have nots are still down at the bottom. And the shoe store just seemed to really make a statement. You’ve got these - this high end footwear for God sakes surrounding these people who can’t even pay their rent. So it just seemed to be as a metaphor we could have chosen any kind of business that was in there, but the shoe store spoke to us the most.
Q: Kathy, what’s challenging or different for you playing a character over a course of several episodes versus when you do a movie or some of the other work you’ve done?
Kathy Bates: Well the main thing is working with different directors. We get a new director coming in once every eight days. And I find that particularly challenging. There’s no time to really get to know each other and you really hit the ground running with different people with different styles, different ways of approaching the material and some who are better at talking to actors than others. I find that to be the most challenging of the whole experience.
Q: Playing a character like this where you get a chance to know her probably in different ways is there something a little bit challenging or different about that where you might learn something about her on Episode 5 that you didn’t know maybe when you started the series?
Kathy Bates: Yes, it is a little bit Woody Allen-esk sometimes. It’s, you know, you never know what the next script is going to hold and, you know, where David might be taking the character. And so sometimes it’s a big surprise and it’s an adjustment, you know, getting used to that and moving forward.
Q: It’s been so much fun to see you on The Office. And I just wanted to note if being on this show precludes you coming back or we get to see you on The Office as well as on Harry’s Law?
Kathy Bates: You do. I’m going to come back for a couple of episodes I believe in the spring.
Q: What’s that been like for you? Cause you’re very funny on that show and it’s - and it definitely seems like you fit right into The Office sense of humor?
Kathy Bates: Yes, I’ve really enjoyed working there. It’s a different type of show. Obviously it’s run in a documentary style format so it’s all handheld and very fast. And my main joy over there has been to watch people like (Steve) work and the other regulars who’ve made the show such a hit and watch how they do comedy. And I’ve been trying to really take big notes from them. And it’s such a wonderful expansive part to play there. And oddly enough when we shot the pilot for Harry’s Law I was shooting The Office at the same time. I kind of went back and forth a few times. So it was fun to do both charact4ers back to back.
Q: David, what is it about the legal system that keeps you coming back as a setting for your TV series?
David Kelley: I think primarily I think the imperfection of the law it still are our most in exact way of legislating society’s sense of morals and ethics. It’s extremely imperfect. It seems it’s like a natural springboard because we’re talking about ideas more times than not. It’s a springboard for exploring characters. And I love to explore our characters. I think that’s my favorite part of the job. This series will be a little different in that as it evolves it - a very little, you know, sort of we’ve had many episodes that don’t even step into the court room at all. It becomes as much about the street and, you know, alternative dispute resolution. Kathy referenced one episode where she really had to settle a beef between two gangs before violence would break out. We’re going into nooks and crannies that involve justice but not necessarily the legal system in this series. And that’s been a lot of fun for me as well.
Q: David you just talked about this being a show about the haves versus the have nots. So why set it here in Cincinnati?
David Kelley: It could have been any city really. I was looking for a cosmopolitan city that didn’t jump out as one of the sexier ones. No offense to Cincinnati. I was there once and thought it was quite nice. But I just specifically did not want it to be a Dallas or Boston or - there’s something about Cincinnati I guess it gets a little picked on. But it could have been - it really could have been many, many different cities. We just chose Cincinnati.
Q: All your shows like Rome, Wisconsin and Boston, Boston Public, Boston Legal are so place specific. How much, what do we see of Cincinnati or what do you tap into?
David Kelley: Well you’ll see some of it. You’ll see some of it. There are not going to be stories that are unique to Cincinnati. I mean you’ll certainly - we certainly be - we’ll be there to get exteriors for example. But the show, other than the street, is fairly about interior so you’re not going to see a whole lot of it. You might be disappointed if you’re looking to see your favorite sights and stories about them.
Q: Back in ’01 which I guess is now ten years ago there were riots in the neighborhood Over-the-Rhine which is the poor neighborhood just outside of the core downtown central business district. Was the history of race relations in this city something you’re aware of?
David Kelley: Yes it is a little bit. And it’s also one that, you know, having grown up outside of Boston there - but certainly I grew up, you know, around the time of busing and that issue. But I don’t think I have any specific knowledge of race relations of Cincinnati that aren’t maybe common to many cities. I wouldn’t lay claim to it. It’s not as I said, it’s not really a series about Cincinnati. We just wanted to pick a smaller cosmopolitan town.
Q: Of the court cases that you choose and that you dramatize, are these things that you read and hear of? Are they all just absolute fiction or where do your stories come from?
David Kelley: Oh that’s a - well we do research yes. And we do reach and hear of them. Some of the, you know, more eccentric ones I suppose come from the imagination of the people who frequent our writer’s rooms. But many of the issues are issues that are out there today.
Q: Kathy, have you been to Cincinnati before?
Kathy Bates: You know, I worked in Louisville, Kentucky. And I think I came across the river and went to Value City and bought high heels. That’s what I remember about Cincinnati.
Q: You talked about how when you decided to consider casting the role as a woman instead of a male character that Kathy was the - came to mind very quickly. What qualities did you see in her that had her jump to the forefront like that?
David Kelley: I guess first of all it was a persona that was very organic to Harry. Her skills are beyond reproach. She’s an Oscar winning actress with good reason. She is, you know, a great dramatic actress and she can also be funny. It’s very hard to find people who have both those muscles. So it - I guess when you start a casting process you look for best actor who’s right for the role. Kathy was right for the role and she was certainly the best actor available and really best actor we could think of. Once her name came up, everybody lit up and said she’s perfect. But, you know, we should only be so lucky and turned out we got lucky.
Q: Why the decision to start taking on a series, a regular series role and what appealed to the character that you think will also appeal to the audience to get them coming back each week?
Kathy Bates: Well I just fell in love with the character. I don’t think I was even thinking about television per se. I just - I was thinking about what a wonderful character this was and how it fit me like a glove. And I couldn’t wait to get to work on her. Well I - she has a wonderful sense of humor and I’m hoping that that will be something that the audience enjoys. But, you know, I can never tell what - you never know what an audience is going to hang on to. But I also think it’s - Harriet’s at a very timely juncture in her life having just lost her job and having to start over. And I think certainly in today’s economy there are a lot of people out there Harriet’s age who can relate to that. And I imagine if they - you know, if they have got the time from their two jobs that they’re working to sit down and watch a TV show this would be the one for them.
Q: Kathy can you talk a little bit about jumping between comedy and drama because you have moments of both in the episodes. Is that a easy gear for you to shift?
Kathy Bates: Yes, I’m enjoying that very much. I mean I - the funnier Harry is the better I like it although there’s some wonderful dramatic moments that I get to play. And I love having both those elements in the show. And without it I think the character would be a bit lopsided. I - and one tone. And it’s not the case. I think she’s a very rich and complex character and I love bouncing back and forth between those two elements of comedy and drama.
Q: David, you have such an arsenal of great characters in your career. Will you be bringing any of them into Harry’s Law like they could be one of the people walking through the door?
David Kelley: Well no, not initially we won’t see any of, you know, previous characters walk through that door although it’s an idea maybe in the future if we’re lucky enough to have one. I kind of like with each episode and characters to start with a blank page. And again, these characters sort of come from different walks so hopefully they’ll feel original.
Q: Kathy you just said of Harry, you thought she fit you like a glove. So can you tell us how you as a person are most like Harry and how are you most different?
Kathy Bates: Well I think, you know, in my private life I’m probably just as curmudgeonly as Harry, that’s for sure. And I share her disillusionment at times with this crazy business I’ve had a career in for so many years. And her upfront honesty with people, she suffers fools, you know, she suffers - what - how do you say that she doesn’t suffer fools gladly or whatever but, you know, all of those elements are similar to me in tone. And she - her - she has a very irreverent sense of humor which I do also. And she’s - she tells it like it is and pulls a right eye at the young kids coming up. She’s got a lot of youngsters around her in the shoe store. And she’s very - she finds their shenanigans falling in and out of love so quickly, she finds it all crazy and insane and - which I do too. So there are a lot of things that are like Harry. Sometimes I think David’s been, you know, doing some kind of background research on me because I’ll read a new script and I’ll say well how does he know that, you know? He’ll give me a certain line to say and I’ll wonder well how does he - how did he figure out I felt that way? So it’s a very close fit and I’m enjoying it. I - just quickly I worked with Marcello Mastroianni many, many years ago. And he said as a young man you want to pile on the masks. You want to put on a lot of masks and play a lot of different characters. And as you get older you want to remove those masks and just play yourself, play closer to your own self. And I found that to be true, especially in this case.
Q: Could you maybe both talk a little bit about the other cast members, Aml and Nate and what the chemistry is like between the three of you?
Kathy Bates: Yes, I’m really taken with this young man, Aml Ameen who’s from the UK who comes over. He plays Malcolm who is the first man that he actually falls on her from out of the sky in a botch suicide attempt. And she gets to know him. He’s - she - he’s the first guy in the neighborhood that she gets to know. And he’s got a third strike drug charge against him and she’s trying to get him off the hook. And she succeeds and he goes on probation and she - he begins to work for her as he continues his college courses and they begin a friendship. And he’s a wonderful young actor. And we’ve gotten - had a lot of terrific scenes together and I’ve enjoyed so much the chemistry between the two of us. Nate Corddry who plays Adam Branch is the young kid that hits her with the car. He comes in and, you know, he and I have similar case, not similar cases, but we’re working on cases sort of in tandem. So we don’t have quite that many scenes together. Although when we do get together we have kind of a, what do you call it, contentious relationship a bit which is fun to play. And then of course, Brittany Snow who’s playing Jenna Backstrom, she’s a doll. She’s a lovely young actress, very funny, wonderful little comedian. And I think the four of us get along really well and enjoy working on the show. We just hope it runs and runs.
Q: Kathy, Would we be seeing any of Harry’s personal life reflected in the show and would you want your character to develop a romantic interest or would you think that would hurt the show or your character to have that?
Kathy Bates: There is actually a show that we have a storyline where we get to meet one of Harriet’s old boyfriends played by Richard Kind who’s a wonderful, wonderful actor. And so we get an element of that in this season actually. And I’ve been sort of dreading the day when David starts to come in with some kind of romantic relationship. It keeps happening all around me. And I’m afraid one of these days the ax is going to fall on my head. So I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’ll tell you I - that’s never been my bailiwick as an actress. So I would really be a fish out of water.
Q: David, you’ve done so many legal shows in the past. What do you feel that Harry’s Law brings to the genre that has not really been done so much in the past? What makes this show basically different from all the other legal dramas that you’ve done?
David Kelley: Mainly I think we’re going to be dealing with more of the Alternative Dispute Resolution than what we’ve seen in most cases. As the series evolves we are - it’s not conventional trials and court room cases. Harry’s scurrying maybe into court to get motions to get court orders to facilitate transplants. She’s got a case where she is settling gang disputes. She’s got a - you know, we see her tank a trial on purpose. I mean this is the anti-lawyer in so many ways. And yet at the root of it is her fundamental core of justice. And I think what the series really explores is how justice and law don’t always coincide. This case - this series is as much about the people and the street that they live on as it is about the courtroom. So it will - it probably will feel a little grungier than past series but very, very character driven. Most of my series tend to be character driven but maybe this one even more so. I hope that kind of answers your question. And probably lastly it’s probably a little bit about what we talked about before is I think the element of class warfare will be present throughout this series.
Q: What it was like working with Jessica Tandy in Used People and if you learned from her as an actress?
Kathy Bates: Well she was great. She was a one of a kind great lady, a great dame. And she always told me to go back to the theater. That was her way of staying connected to what she was so passionate about which was acting. And the one thing I remember the most about her was how - what a source of life her work was for her. When we started working on Fried Green Tomatoes she came to work with jeans and a little jean jacket on. And she looked like a 16-year-old girl out of drama school with her first role. And she was 84 at the time. And that taught me more than anything that you stay in love with what you do, you know, right the way through and it'll support you.
Q: What were the TV shows that you enjoyed growing up?
Kathy Bates: Yes Route 66 was one of my favorites. I used to watch Bonanza. I went more for like who was the guy that was Paladin? Was that a show? I'm talking way back there in both phases. And Perry Mason. I used to watch Perry Mason. I think a lot about Perry Mason when I'm doing this show and those types of things.
Q: Kathy, I know you said that you liked 48 Hours and Dateline and all those shows that have the lawyers on. What are your feelings on lawyers and the legal profession and have they changed at all since playing Harry?
Kathy Bates: Well I don't know about the law that - the lawyers themselves, although yes this is I guess changed too. I mean maybe I'm - and I'm certainly looking at them through a very narrow glass here if I say I'm watching, you know, investigation discovery. But in some of these cases the tougher cold cases, it just - it makes me realize how tenuous the law is and how tenuous it is for detectives and police to really get involved with the case to begin with and, you know, the legalities surrounding whether or not they can get involved on a case, whether a case meets a certain criteria and how many cases slip through the cracks and how difficult it is to prove whether a case is - or a crime has been committed and whether they can actually bring, you know, a defendant to trial and to justice and to go through all the appeals and all that. The morass of legality and red tape and bureaucracy is just mind blowing to me. I think that more than anything else has been an eye-opener for me. And I think we do point that out in some of our cases that we dealt with on Harry's Law these technicalities that madden people when we - when they get into a particular case. So that would have to be my answer.
Q: Is it true that in one of your earlier jobs you were a gift shop cashier at the Museum of Modern Art in the city?
Kathy Bates: I did. Yes I was actually not the cashier. I stayed - I was the payroll clerk upstairs who counted all the money that they brought in from the cashier from downstairs. So I had to take all the coins because it used to be coins back in those days and I used to have to take all the coins and count the coins and wrap them and send them off to the bank.
Q: David your writing is incredibly smart and entertaining and incredibly funny. Just curious are you this funny outside of your business life?
David Kelley: No I'm afraid I'm not. As much as I would like to be I'm not - I'm neither interesting nor funny.
Kathy Bates: It is so true.
Q: Now Kathy which role are you able to relate to the most out of all the roles that you played?
Kathy Bates: Well I'm relating pretty well to this role here of Harriet on Harriet's Law, Harry's Law. I'm having a terrific time playing this character and investigating her in every new episode.
Q: David, which character that you've worked with is your favorite?
David Kelley: Oh that's always a hard, you know, I was just asked that question by someone and was unable to answer it. I probably would have a handful of them probably maybe like six or seven that I couldn't from - I'm talking about past shows. But Harry, I love Harry. I enjoy writing this character because she's complicated and complex and she's different from any character I've written before. So I'm hoping that this will be a favorite as well. You know, so many of the characters I get to write maybe 60, 70 episodes of and, you know, I just hope I have that opportunity with Harry because there's a lot of layers to this character and I'd love the time to explore them.
Q: What was the most challenging for the both of you, challenging characters for the both of you?
David Kelley: Well for me I'll talk first. Challenging, in television one of the tough things is your - it’s sort of incumbent upon you to write characters that the audience wants to welcome into their family room or living room. And those characters tend to, you know, lay on the friendlier side of the fence. The antihero antiheroes are tougher. The ones that are grumps and curmudgeons and aren't politically correct, those are a little more difficult because you still want the audience to care about them and yet you want to be true to their, you know, lack of political correctness or who the character - and Harry would be one. Jeffrey Geiger was one on Chicago Hope, always had the knack of saying the wrong thing. And yet at the end of the day you believed in him as a person and as a doctor. I think Harry presents those same challenges. This is a character who struts through the door and dares people to dislike her. I mean she has no problem saying no. She does not care whether anyone likes her or finds her to be a popular person. So you want to be true to that part of her and yet at the same time you want that character to be popular. It's a difficult trick. And the best way to pull off that trick is with an accomplished actor. And, you know, I've certainly got one here. So if it doesn't work you can lay it on me.
Q: David one of my favorite LA Law episodes from years back -- and I don't know if this was during your tenure there or before -- dealt with the executive who sued because he was passed over for a job because of age. And given what you said about Kathy's character whether ageism is a subject you might explore in the show?
David Kelley: It is. We haven't explored it directly but I think it's there indirectly in many episodes. It's there in the pilot when she gets fired. So I think that yes, it's there. I mean one of the genesis of this series was the unemployment not just - we hear about the job market with kids coming out of college and not able to find work. But the other more stark reality and maybe the one that's more frightening is at the other end, the people losing their jobs because keeping them on qualifies them for pensions and it costs corporations more money to keep the more senior employees. And there's a lot of people being groomed at the other side of the spectrum. And Harry is one. So I think ageism though it's not front and center in any of the episodes it's certainly present if that answers your question.
Q: Kathy given the fact that we’re now hearing a lot of stories about the fact the baby boomer population is turning 65 at the rate of like 10,000 people a day according to an NBC Nightly News story couple of days ago, I'm wondering how the boomer mentality sort of plays into your character?
Kathy Bates: Not immediately so I don't think. I think it's for Harry it's a little different. I think she - what she’s slowly evolving to as the season moves on is how grateful she is to have - to be under her own steam to be her own employer I think and also to have a job that she finally believes in and something that has awakened her heart in a way that she never expected before. And I think that she finds herself in that situation after having been fired is a lovely thing.
Q: Kathy you made a career out of being an absolute scene stealer, even when you have the smallest role but there is quite a cast in Harry's Law. So are you planning to share some of that scenery with your costars?
Kathy Bates: Hell no. Hell no. No I'm going to go on stealing as many scenes as I possibly can. I especially love to scene steals in - scene - steals scenes in which I have absolutely no lines. I would really love to continue doing that.
Q: Did you ever think 30 years into your career that you’d be starring in a legal drama for David E. Kelley especially after you had a little guest spot in LA Law back in ‘89 where David served as executive producer?
Kathy Bates: No I never ever dreamed that I would be doing this although it's a bit of a dream come true now that I find myself at the end of our season. I'm really enjoying it so much now I just want to keep going with it.
David Kelley: No we thought it was kind of a bit of a pipedream. We - you know, we all came up with the idea how about Kathy Bates then, you know, good luck trying to get her. So we were pinching ourselves when she agreed to do it. So we realize what, you know, an opportunity this is for all of us to work with an actor of this caliber. And we just hope we get to keep on doing it. It’s a, you know, it's not a show for everybody. It’s going to be a show that skews older. It's going to be tough sledding on a network that's in a regime change. We all know that. And maybe it's all made us appreciate it more that we know that the sledding is going to be tough. But you don't get these chances to work with these kinds of actors all the time. In fact, you know, one of the things working in television is you maybe don't get a crack at the best actors out there because they're doing movies. And here we got a crack with one. We actually persuaded her to come on board and we’re having the time of our life with her and we just hope it continues.
Q: Kathy, in what ways are you looking forward to seeing the character of Harriet grow and develop?
Kathy Bates: I don't know. I haven't put that into words. I leave that in David's capable hands. But I look forward to seeing her I guess have more of her interactions with this neighborhood that she finds herself in and the different people that come in the front door of the shoe store and how that impacts on her life. And I'm not sure exactly what adventures lie in store for her. But I just hope that she gets to have more and more.
Q: Is there a favorite on set moment from the coming season or any standout scenes for either one of you?
David Kelley: Oh man, one scene that stands out? I can't really think of one, been a lot of great moments. I'm trying to think if there's one. I can't really pick out one, can you Kathy?
Kathy Bates: Well one jumped out in my mind. There’s a wonderful scene when we introduce Chris McDonald who plays a lawyer named Tommy Jefferson. And Nate has a case with him and goes to visit him. And Tommy has the most bizarre office that you've ever seen in your life. He has, you know, a continuing slideshow that's going on behind his desk which shows him in different poses with different presidents and heads of state and different skiing outfits. And, you know, I mean and then he has a whole gallery where he can turn the lights dim so that he can take movies. And I mean it's just all high-tech crap and he goes through it really quickly and shows Nate all of these different elements. And he's got it all set up to really publish himself on the scene and ends by giving Nate a picture of the two of them together. And it's just wonderful introduction for a character. It’s just absolutely brilliantly done.
Q: Kathy it was great news to hear that you were coming on television. I mean it was even greater news to you that you're going to be in one of David's shows. I mean that combination is unbelievable, unbreakable and it's going to be fantastic. You obviously knew all of the shows so when you got it was it something you had to read and think about seriously?
Kathy Bates: Oh yes. The minute it came to meet we snatched it up. And I was with two of my really close friends. We were all in New York. And we were all, you know, snatching the script back and forth and reading it and, you know, going oh my God we've got to do this. You got to do this. And so it - right away it was something that I wanted to do. And it was a thrilling character that, you know, these characters just don't come along every day. And it was very exciting to see her jump off the page. Yes absolutely. And you’ve been listening I think to our other comments and...I very much relate to her and so much so that I feel like David's, you know, sort of peeking in my brain some days.
Q: Does it help when you feel close knit to the character?
Kathy Bates: Yes it does help. It helps tremendously. And it helps me evolve this character as we go along through the episodes and keep exploring and peeling back the layers.
Q: David, you must have been thrilled when you got her to say yes. And you've written some incredible series, some landmark series. What made this one special and what made you want to have her in the role and made her the extra oomph that you needed to make it the show you wanted it to be?
David Kelley: Well the - part of the genesis of this particular series, you know, we've - we’re coming off the crest in this country of such a wave of optimism in the past. And it's always been about the American dream. And most characters you see are, you know, hard chargers towards that dream. And now we've hit hard times as a country. And I kind of wanted to explore a character who had worked for a long time and had become disillusioned with her job and with life, maybe a person who started out loving life but because she was told to but it - life didn't love her back so much and here she is at 60 years old and to explore that character and to mine the seeds of idealism underneath a lot of calluses and maybe even scar tissue. So it was a different kind of character for me and a very complicated character, one that had sort of maybe by self-defense learned to love solitude and didn't really make people a big part of her life. This is not a person with a lot of relationships. And now her life’s starting over and it's going to include forming and forging new relationships, a new job. It's going to involve her mentoring something she never did at her other firm. In fact we even have a scene where she kind of even states that she doesn't particularly like young lawyers. And now she’s surrounded by young people. Not only does she have to go to work with them, she has to mentor them a little bit. So this is a brave new world for a character, a seasoned character. And I just felt excited about the opportunity to mine this particular beast.
Q: What makes the law so fascinating to you? What is it about the law that you love to write about and write about so eloquently and so greatly that even normal Joe's understand it or want to understand it or figure it out at least?
David Kelley: Well I suppose as I said before, law is our best mechanism for legislating morality and ethics in our society which I - which that alone fascinates me. Also the law is an evolving beast in our country. It's constantly changing to keep up with the times. I enjoyed Chicago Hope. And I wasn't necessarily looking to start out with another law practice. I this - the genesis of this series was the times and this character. And I made her a lawyer just because I felt the law at the end of the day was still the best profession for me to mine both the times and this character. As the series evolves the theme of justice will be very present but it's not as - it's definitely not a traditional law show. We will not be going to trial every episode like we did in the practice or Boston legal for example. In fact we've done twelve episodes now and many of them don't involve trials at all. So it's a little different. But yes I am constantly - I'm still fascinated and drawn to law. It's such an inexact science trying to affect a sense of justice that applies to the masses. And you can see the potential for abuse. And, you know, like Kathy mentioned I too am sort of - I'm home watching the 48 Hours and the Datelines and those shows about lawyers so for whatever reason, you know, maybe it's I went to law school. I was a lawyer and I kind of am fancying writing about all the cases that I never get to try, who knows.
Q: Kathy you mentioned earlier that one of the challenges of doing the series is working with different directors. But you also are a director. Is there any chance that you’ll direct any of the episodes?
Kathy Bates: Not at this juncture. I've got my hands full right now. And I'm not sure I would want to just because I’m - I figure in so many of the scenes. I think I'd have to get a couple of seasons under my belt before I could before I could think about the directing. But yes that would be my answer.
Q: Kathy and David, what are you looking forward to as the season develops?
David Kelley: I think we’re looking for getting picked up for a second season. Our season is over now. We've got - we’re just finishing our last couple of episodes. So we've done 12 and, you know, we’re looking forward to going further but that depends on, you know, our fate and, you know, things beyond our control. So but it's a - it feels like a fertile ground. I think we’re all pleased with the development of the character so far and we feel that there's so many places to go. The relationships, the interoffice relationships seem to be working. And they’re places we want to continue to explore. But, you know, that will depend on how we do once we air.
